So, the other day I was logging into Myspace to check out this and that and to deny the latest sex trade Spam invite that has graced my inbox when I see something new. Something that quite frankly stuns me.
An ad for Fight Club T-shirts.
And then I thought, “No, that can't be right. Oh yeah, I saw someone with one on the other day and I thought they sorta forgot the first two rules.” I don't have to repeat those two rules to you here. However, I went on to think how can you make a t-shirt about a movie that cried out against relentless consumerism and then sell it on the Internet? I know they made a video game, but a t-shirt?
Well, apparently someone did, and you know me, I had to check it out.
There were, in fact, over 175 different items of apparel or dinnerware available. All covered in pithy slogans from the movie. All the best lines were there, neatly printed across the chest or around a Paper Street Soap Co logo. You are not your day job. You are not your khakis. You are not a unique and beautiful snowflake. I am the all singing, all dancing crap of the world.
I want to say I was Jack's Complete Lack of Surprise. But I can't. I was shocked.
This book and movie had a profound effect on me. I re-read the book yearly, and watch the movie soon after. Did they miss the point? The things we own end up owning us. That we can't be IEA slaves that look for that perfect couch. And if we ever do wonder what sort of dining set defines us as a person, we must buy it and then smash the glass blown plates from wherever to tiny bits and grind them back into sand.
Nihilism is not selling a fucking t-shirt on the Internet!
And then I thought what the hell would Tyler do?
Well, he'd punch someone, that's for sure. Then he'd probably laugh, do the Brad Pitt hand pointy thing and say, “That's what I'm fucking talking about. Wear your fucking slogans, pretend like you're doing something when all you're really doing is keeping the system going. Keep polishing the brass on the Titanic.”
And then he'd launch a DOS attack on the EPA's website, and hack it's data base to show that used tires make excellent shingles for the home. And how car exhaust was a great aerosol fertilizer for your house plants. Anything to get you to destroy the things you love the most. Love more than people.
Because that's what happens when you get stuff. You live in fear someone else will take it from you. And then it owns you. You sit in your house and wait to go to a crappy day job you hate to get more stuff you don't want.
So, maybe they missed the point. Or maybe they get it. Maybe the pithy slogans neatly printed on a heather grey hoody are really here to tell us to let go. That nothing really is something worthwhile. That what matters isn't our cars, but our relationships with other people.
So heed the warning. Our lives are ending one breath at a time. Go do what you've always wanted to do. Have something to say for your life. Don't go into the grave a perfectly preserved corpse, but come in with a screaming skid and yell, “That was one hell of a ride!”
And buy me the Day Job coffee mug.
An ad for Fight Club T-shirts.
And then I thought, “No, that can't be right. Oh yeah, I saw someone with one on the other day and I thought they sorta forgot the first two rules.” I don't have to repeat those two rules to you here. However, I went on to think how can you make a t-shirt about a movie that cried out against relentless consumerism and then sell it on the Internet? I know they made a video game, but a t-shirt?
Well, apparently someone did, and you know me, I had to check it out.
There were, in fact, over 175 different items of apparel or dinnerware available. All covered in pithy slogans from the movie. All the best lines were there, neatly printed across the chest or around a Paper Street Soap Co logo. You are not your day job. You are not your khakis. You are not a unique and beautiful snowflake. I am the all singing, all dancing crap of the world.
I want to say I was Jack's Complete Lack of Surprise. But I can't. I was shocked.
This book and movie had a profound effect on me. I re-read the book yearly, and watch the movie soon after. Did they miss the point? The things we own end up owning us. That we can't be IEA slaves that look for that perfect couch. And if we ever do wonder what sort of dining set defines us as a person, we must buy it and then smash the glass blown plates from wherever to tiny bits and grind them back into sand.
Nihilism is not selling a fucking t-shirt on the Internet!
And then I thought what the hell would Tyler do?
Well, he'd punch someone, that's for sure. Then he'd probably laugh, do the Brad Pitt hand pointy thing and say, “That's what I'm fucking talking about. Wear your fucking slogans, pretend like you're doing something when all you're really doing is keeping the system going. Keep polishing the brass on the Titanic.”
And then he'd launch a DOS attack on the EPA's website, and hack it's data base to show that used tires make excellent shingles for the home. And how car exhaust was a great aerosol fertilizer for your house plants. Anything to get you to destroy the things you love the most. Love more than people.
Because that's what happens when you get stuff. You live in fear someone else will take it from you. And then it owns you. You sit in your house and wait to go to a crappy day job you hate to get more stuff you don't want.
So, maybe they missed the point. Or maybe they get it. Maybe the pithy slogans neatly printed on a heather grey hoody are really here to tell us to let go. That nothing really is something worthwhile. That what matters isn't our cars, but our relationships with other people.
So heed the warning. Our lives are ending one breath at a time. Go do what you've always wanted to do. Have something to say for your life. Don't go into the grave a perfectly preserved corpse, but come in with a screaming skid and yell, “That was one hell of a ride!”
And buy me the Day Job coffee mug.
1 comment:
Indeed. Nice post. Fight Club is one of my favorite movies.
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